


In the language of the birds

by OrphanText



Category: Magic Kaito
Genre: Angst, Conflict Resolution, Developing Relationship, Emotions, Friendship/Love, Growing Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-02
Updated: 2016-09-02
Packaged: 2018-08-12 15:24:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7939651
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OrphanText/pseuds/OrphanText
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Your master misses you,” he whispers down at her, Hana-chan only giving him an innocent look, if birds have any sort of grasp on complex emotions. Probably not. “Your family misses you. They’ll put your picture on the side of the milk carton if you don’t come home soon.”</p><p>It starts with a flock of sparrows, a boy he doesn't know on a park bench, a handful of maybes and perhaps and ifs, and the possibility of a friendship if they had only been just a little different.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the language of the birds

**Author's Note:**

> With a great many heartfelt thanks to Jade, who combed through this monstrosity for mistakes. All remaining mistakes are mine.
> 
> Quite a ride writing this from start to finish.
> 
> Alternatively also known as 'teenaged boys navigate a volatile minefield of relationships blindfolded + birds'.

The first time he had met Hakuba, it hadn’t been in school, or at a heist. He hadn’t known who the foreign looking boy sitting in the park was, only that it was rather strange for someone his age to be sitting there out of uniform at such an early time in the morning, an expensive looking car just idling by the side of the road.

Kaito had been on his way to school, and what had drawn his attention was the large flock of sparrows surrounding the boy, some of them daring enough to perch on his shoulders as he pinched crumbs off a crust of bread in his hand. The scene was remarkably peaceful, the sparrows chirping away as they fought for the bread, a soft indulgent smile on the boy’s face as he gently dislodged a bird from his hair. Wild birds tend not to be stranger shy when there is food involved, but there is still something incredibly captivating about the scene, the boy yelping when one of them dares to pull on his hair with its beak.

Someone calls, and the birds scatter briefly as the boy stands, calling back an answer and crumbling the rest of the bread in his hands for them. Kaito, realising that he had been standing there for about five minutes, hurries to continue on his way before he is seen. 

For the rest of the day, all Kaito can think about is how beautiful he had seemed.

That was before he knew he was Hakuba Saguru, the famed teenage detective from London who is currently in Japan on a quest to capture the Kaitou KID. He was arrogant, socially inept and a general pain in Kaito’s ass.

(But secretly, Kaito still thinks he was beautiful.)

::

“You’re not getting away this time.”

“Feeling a little rough tonight, tantei-san?” Kaito replies in good cheer, despite having his hands cuffed behind his back, Hakuba’s weight pressing him up against the metal pipe so hard he thinks there will be imprints of the screws on him for days. “Let up a little here. It’s hard to breathe. You can’t arrest a dead body, Hakuba-tantei.”

“I won’t fall for your tricks,” Hakuba says instead, and Kaito squirms up against him. It’s a little unfair - he really is speaking the truth here, and if Hakuba is going to keep panting like  _ that _ in his ear, he is going to make sure he stays well and truly out of his way for the next few heists. “The police are on their way.”

“Oh, lovely. Do you think -  _ oi! _ ” He squawks when a hand slips into the front of his jacket, groping up against his chest. “I don’t think we know each other well enough for you to casually molest me.”

“Jewel,” Hakuba growls, and Kaito bucks against his weight. It doesn’t do anything, Hakuba simply groping the other side of his chest, feeling for pockets. 

“Stop it!” He squawks again, indignant when the hand goes lower. “It’s in the right pocket of my trousers! Stop molesting me.”

“If you weren’t out stealing,” Hakuba says, but he doesn’t get to finish the sentence before the fake jewel he retrieved from Kaito’s pocket flashes a blinding white, Kaito hissing through his teeth at how bright it is even with his eyes tightly closed. “ _ What _ \- “

“I suggest you sit down before you fall down the stairs,” Kaito says helpfully, tripping him flat on his face while Hakuba totters around temporarily blinded from his modified stun device. Hakuba goes down hard, and groans as he blinks incomprehensibly at the ceiling, disorientated. “There we go. And now I shall take my leave. Have a great evening, Hakuba-tantei!”

Because he isn’t that heartless, and also because it isn’t what he is after, he leaves the real, actual jewel wrapped in a handkerchief in Hakuba’s hand, hoping that he won’t be too much of an idiot to toss a rock with a billion US dollar price tag on it down the emergency stairwell. Out through the window, parkour down and a quick change, then a shrill whistling has the KID fan crowd breaking through the police cordon in a mad cheer, Kaito quickly mingling amongst them while making his way to the fringes of the crowd. He’s met there by Jii, and it only takes the both of them three minutes to get to their getaway motorcycle, two more before they’re out on the main road and on the way home. Grinning, Kaito throws on a little more speed, Jii moaning unhappily in response behind him. Quick and clean, zero casualties. Nights like this are the  _ best _ , in his opinion.

“Got what we’re looking for, bocchama?” Jii looks a little green in the rearview mirror, and reluctantly, Kaito gets out of the fast lane and slows down. “I was just beginning to get nervous when you were late.”

“I had a brief hold up with Hakuba, that ass.” The marks from the cuffs are still visible on his wrists. “Don’t worry, Jii-chan. I can take care of myself.”

“Making an old man worry after you.” Jii makes a long suffering sigh. “You’re just like Toichi-sama. Brash and impulsive.”

“What, is that supposed to be a compliment?” Irked, Kaito flicks the signal light on to move back to the fast lane, Jii immediately tugging hard on his leather jacket. “You don’t have to worry about me. I know what I’m doing. I chose this myself.”

“And that just makes me worry more.” The signal light goes off, and Jii stops trying to strangle him with his own jacket. “He said the same thing, too.”

“Like father, like son, then?” Kaito grins. “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

“Well, only in  _ some _ ways.” A brief pause. “Bocchama… “

“A~ah. Don’t nag, Jii-chan. It’s  _ okay _ . You can’t worry about something that hasn’t happened yet. If I could, I would have loved leaving you to your retirement life without having to involve yourself in my troubles, but I’m still inexperienced in certain areas, and your help is, frankly speaking, invaluable.  _ I _ should be the one apologising, Jii-chan.” 

“ _ That’s not true, bocchama _ . How could I rest, with Toichi-sama’s killer at large - “ Jii cuts himself off immediately, aware of the dangerous territory he’s stepping into. “I should never have involved you, bocchama.”

“What’s done is done. No use crying over spilt milk. Either way.” He smoothly overtakes a car, and takes the left exit back to their own district. “If I’m arrested, let us go.”

“ _ Bocchama, I cannot do that - ! _ ”

“And ruin what there is left of your life? I’ll probably end up some strange sort of celebrity, like, Issei Sagawa? I’ll have years to do that. You should enjoy your life, Jii-chan, and not worry about a dead man and his son.”

“ _ That’s _ \- “

“Unfair? Yeah. But the living should keep living, and if the worst comes to happen, I do ask that you will remember what I’ve said.” Off the highway now, turning into the residential area, and Kaito slows down. “Feel like getting a bento, Jii-chan?”

“...I wish Toichi-sama could see you now.” The bright light of the 24-hour mart beckons, and Kaito parks on the side of the road, pulling off his helmet and raking a hand through his hair. “I’m sure he would have been proud.”

“I’m sure he would be prouder of himself,” Kaito replies, checking his pockets for his wallet. “Dominant thieving genes and all. Hey, where’s Hana-chan?”

::

Monday, and Hakuba is looming over his desk with a confident smirk on his face. Kaito leans back in his chair as far away from him as he possibly can, and answers with a limp smile of his own, hoping that the concealer he had applied this morning is enough to conceal his eyebags.

“And so you are  _ very _ certain that this dove isn’t one of yours, Kuroba-kun?”

“Uh huh. I keep doves, but that doesn’t mean that every dove you come across belongs to me.” Kaito eyes the bird Hakuba is holding up before him, Hana-chan cooing contentedly, clearly oblivious to the situation she’s just put her owner in. “Where did you find her?”

“In my pocket, post-heist. If she isn’t yours, then I am going to keep her. She’s quite the darling, although I’m afraid her wing is slightly sprained.” 

Involuntarily, he twitches. The smirk on Hakuba’s face grows - not a bad look, but god does he want to rip it off his face or something. “Yeah? And why are you telling me?”

“Just in case you might be interested in taking her back, of course.” Hakuba strokes over Hana’s head with a finger. “But then, that will be as good as admitting that you are KID. This is  _ his _ dove, after all.”

“Oh?” Surely Hana-chan knows the way home? Unless Hakuba had been keeping her under lock and key in a cage -

“I think I am going to keep her, after all. You will be good friends with Watson, won’t you? Amelia?”

Hana-chan, the traitor, snuggles right up into Hakuba’s offered palm, and unable to stop himself, Kaito reaches out to flick at a tail feather scoldingly. “What sort of a bird’s name is Amelia?”

“A proper one. Unless you prefer the name Irene? She looks like an Amelia, in my opinion - Ah.” Fukuda sensei walks into class, and Kaito can only goggle at Hakuba when he quickly hides Hana-chan in an empty lunch box. “We’ll continue this later, Kuroba-kun.”

The  _ bastard _ . 

He’ll just have to steal Hana-chan back, then.

::

“So I’m telling you, you can’t keep birds in a lunch box!” 

It’s lunch period, now, and Hana-chan looks slightly rumpled from having spent hours in a lunchbox. It wasn’t a small lunchbox, which, thank god for small mercies, but it was still a rather tight space for her, and she wouldn’t have liked it. As it is, she has completely chewed off the corner of Hakuba’s math textbook, Hakuba looking slightly guilty.

“For someone who keeps  _ hawks _ , I expected for you to have more experience with birds, you know.” Clucking his tongue at Hana-chan, he gently straightens her feathers out, smoothing them back with gentle fingers. “Poor Amelia-chan, our idiot Hakuba doesn’t know how to treat you well. Serial womaniser, but helpless against anything not a human. He doesn’t know how to take care of a lady like  _ you _ .”

“Says the boy who sticks birds up his sleeve.” 

“They’re  _ trained _ to stay in my sleeve. They’re used to it. You just up and stuffed a poor bird in this cramped box. How would you feel if I threw Watson into a flour sack?” Kaito clucks his tongue at Amelia, to which she responds with a series of burbling. “Ooh, she’s clever. Do you suppose KID-sama has taught her any tricks?”

“You tell me.” Hakuba pulls up a chair next to his table without invitation, and pulls out his actual lunch box, which consists of mainly rice and seaweed. Kaito takes one look at it and balks. “You’re both magicians, after all.”

“Then I’ll have to keep my fellow magician’s secrets, won’t I?” Kaito makes to set her down, only for her to immediately sit down on his hand as though her legs are suddenly weak. “No, no, don’t do that. I want to eat. Stop it now.”

“Stop what? She’s only sitting.” Hakuba is already starting in on his food, and Kaito transfers Hana-chan to his other hand, lifting her upwards to Hakuba’s shoulder, to which she chirps irritably, looking back at him. “Are you really  _ certain _ she isn’t yours? She seems terribly familiar with you.”

“Seriously. Your relentless accusations of me being KID are getting really old, and I’m really tired of it.” His own bento consists of his leftovers from the day before, and some kaarage with cheese and tofu, a salad tucked into the side compartments as well as a few slices of apples. “Day in, day out, you nag at me like some old hag. What’re you going to do if I say yes? Throw me into the back of a police car and then come right back to class like nothing’s wrong? ‘Oh, sensei, I’m sorry but I have just arrested Kuroba under suspicion of being a thief. I’m afraid he won’t be attending classes from now on. Carry on.’”

Still chewing his mouthful of rice, Hakuba remains silent, Kaito petting Hana-chan on the head until she is satisfied and hops from his hand back to the desk to peck at his pencils. 

“It’s something that I have yet to consider,” Hakuba says eventually, Kaito shooing Hana-chan away from his food when she comes over to investigate his peas out of curiosity. “I’m sure it won’t come to that.”

“Sure,” Kaito grunts noncommittally. “Whatever you say, Mr. High and Mighty. Either way, keeping a dove is very different from keeping a predatory bird like Watson. Are you  _ sure _ you know how to care for Amelia?”

The bird in question coos quietly before them as she walks in circles around the surface of his desk, and Hakuba frowns. “Of course.”

“You don’t look very certain.”

“I will manage.”

“That’s not a very confident answer, and as somebody who keeps and trains doves, I’m concerned for Amelia’s wellbeing. Particularly if she’s a dove belonging to his flock.”

“Hm,” Hakuba says, Kaito doing his best not to bristle. God help Hakuba if Hana-chan gets injured or sick under his care. “Well then. Why don’t you help me settle her in?”

“Why don’t you just give her to me?”

“Why would I do that?” Hakuba looks genuinely surprised. “She’s a lovely bird. And besides, she belongs to KID. I think we’ll both be better off if I keep her for a while. Perhaps I can use this against him the next time we meet.”

“It sounds terribly shady when you word it like that.” Kaito shovels rice into his mouth, wondering why Hakuba is suddenly turning pink. “Did I say something?”

“Not at all.” Awkwardly, Hakuba takes another bite of his food and nearly chokes himself. “Will you or will you not?”

“Do you think I’ll leave the welfare of an innocent bird in your clumsy hands? Wait - “ A thought occurs to him then, and the cherry tomato slips from his chopsticks. “Is this a hostage situation?”

::

Hakuba’s house is just as oppressive looking in the day as it is in the night. Behind him, Hakuba pants with exertion as he leans against the door, mopping sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief. The same one he left with him at the heist, Kaito notices.

“If you’re going to bring along this much, you should have told me to bring the car around.” Hakuba groans, bending over to better stretch his back. “Why must I carry the cages while  _ you _ carry the dove?”

“Hey now, the bird’s precious cargo. It’ll do you good to pretend to be a normal person now and then, young master Hakuba. ‘Bring the car around’... manual work too beneath you?” Kaito kicks off his shoes, and carries the cages in. “You asked me for help, so this is what you’re getting. Where do you want to keep her? Do you have some sort of day room? I mean, keeping a new bird in with Watson is probably a bad idea. Have you seen that video of a pelican swallowing a pigeon? It’s  _ traumatizing _ , and I don’t want that happening to any bird, ever.”

“Ah, no, not really,” says Hakuba, hurriedly catching up to him. “I do have a room in mind… “

He’s shown to one of what he is sure is a generally unused study, wide windows allowing sunlight in, empty bookshelves standing up against the side of the wall, wooden chairs pushed up into corners. Hana-chan chirps, and Kaito yelps when she pulls sharply on his hair, the bird immediately taking flight to perch on the bookshelf. 

“Brat,” Kaito mutters as he throws on the various switches by the door. “Which one is the switch to your ceiling fan?”

“This one.” Hakuba tugs on a string hanging on the fan. “Why?”

“You might want to keep it on it’s lowest setting through the day, the room feels a little hot, but it shouldn’t be a problem with the fan. You might want to keep the string out of the way before Amelia chews it off, as well as move anything you don’t want her shitting on out of the room.” Kaito paces the perimeter of the room, peering out of the windows that has a back view of the house. “Hand me my bag, will you?”

They spend the entire afternoon settling Hana-chan in, Kaito leaving half a bag of birdseed with Hakuba before he can so much as think of feeding her with bread and rice. Hakuba, he is gratified to see, is at least taking all of it seriously, jotting down notes whenever Kaito tells him something about doves, signs and symptoms to watch out for that mean he needs to take her to a vet immediately. 

“In case of doubt, call me,” Kaito reminds, carefully climbing down from the stepladder only to find Hakuba grinning away. “What now?”

“Nothing,” says Hakuba, which means that something is very definitely up but he doesn’t want to share. “And I don’t have your number.”

Urk. Right. He had changed his number a month back, and hadn’t wanted this ass knowing his new number, in case he decided to harass him outside of school via texts. Still. For Hana-chan, he’ll just have to suck it up.

“Cell.” He flicks open Hakuba’s phone and easily gets through the password lock when it’s handed over to him, Hakuba watching with a frown though he quickly looks away when Kaito looks up. “Here. If that is all, I’m heading home. There is still homework to be done, and I would like to get dinner.”

“If you don’t mind, you can always stay for dinner.” Hakuba trails him out, Kaito pulling up a sock that’s slipping down his ankle. “Baaya wouldn’t mind.”

“And impose on her hospitality? You didn’t even call her beforehand. No thanks.” Kaito scoffs. Young master, indeed.

“As thanks, then?” There’s an odd, uncertain look on Hakuba’s face, like he isn’t quite sure what to do. “For helping me.”

“I did it for Amelia and KID-sama. No thanks necessary there. Although, I would have liked to have met him. Still.” Bag over his shoulder, Kaito checks for his bus pass. “See you tomorrow, Hakuba.”

“Ah - “ Hakuba drops the hand that had been reaching out for him when he turns, quickly putting it awkwardly on his head. “Sorry. I meant to say. Sorry for putting her in a lunch box.”

“Hmpf,” Kaito scoffs when nothing else is forthcoming. “That’s all?”

Hakuba stares at him unblinkingly, his own version of fidgeting, and then dips his head in a brief nod. 

“Right… “ Made awkward by Hakuba’s odd behaviour, Kaito ducks his head. “Bye, then.”

He wonders when he’ll get Hana-chan back.

::

If Hakuba could, Kaito thinks he’d likely shack up with birds and never speak to another human again. Unfortunately, with his penchant for solving murders and being a detective, the chance of that happening is very unlikely.

He also has foot-in-mouth syndrome, apparently.

“I’m terribly sorry for the misunderstanding,” Kaito says, bowing again, Hakuba hurriedly following suit next to him. “He’s no good with people, you see, and he’s lived most of his life overseas. Sorry for having caused you trouble.”

They feed him the expected complaints, and he sighs heavily when the couple finally does leave, Hakuba looking sheepish. He starts trailing after Kaito, too, when he begins to walk, and Kaito wonders if it’s alright to give his housekeeper a call in case Hakuba is actually lost.

“I’m sorry,” Hakuba says earnestly. “And thank you, Kuroba-kun.”

“Stop learning new vocabulary from late night variety shows.”

“I will. I’m sorry.”

“Ugh.” It’s hard to be angry at something as pathetic looking as Hakuba is right now. “If there is something you don’t understand, you can ask your classmates. There’s no shame in asking - you said so yourself.”

“So can I ask you?”

It figures that the only thing registering would be this, and good going, Kaito, he totally brought this upon himself. Irritated with himself for not having thought his words through, Kaito jams his hands into his pockets and promises himself a pudding for dessert tonight. Just one, because he’s watching his weight at the moment. “Fine.”

“Oh.” Then, cryptically, “Good. But I didn’t think that I would be meeting you here.”

“I’m out on errands, rich boy. Normal people like us need groceries. They don’t magically appear in our fridge.” Kaito stops when Hakuba continues to tail him around the corner, Hakuba walking right into him. “Don’t you have things to do?”

“I’m heading to the pet store,” Hakuba says, which is coincidentally where Kaito is also headed. “I was thinking of getting some toys for Amelia. She’s a clever one, and I think she gets frightfully bored when I’m not at home. Her wing is much better, by the way.”

“That so.”

“I’ve introduced her to Watson once, but I don’t think that I will ever allow them to mingle together. Ah!” Hakuba straightens slightly. “You should drop by to visit. She’s doing very well, and Baaya has also extended a dinner invitation to you.”

Reluctantly, despite his want to check up on Hana-chan, Kaito fixes a bored expression on his face. “That’s unnecessary.” 

“Humour me? It’s been a long time since we’ve had any visitors, and she was a little upset she’d missed you by eight minutes.” Knowing Hakuba and his tendency for understating the mundane, he probably means that his housekeeper was terribly upset. “I’ll even call ahead. I can show you Watson, too, since you expressed an interest in her the other day.”

“You seem awfully close to your housekeeper.” The bell attached to the front door of the pet shop rings when he pushes it open, Kaito not waiting for Hakuba to come through before heading to the section for birds. 

“She’s as good as a mother figure to me.” Hakuba says from behind him. “My parents, as you already know, are always absent. She’s been looking after me ever since I was in kindergarten. Both in Japan and London. I owe her so much, so I would like to see her happy. I would love to spend more time with her, but with school and my cases… most of these days, she watches the telly or she sleeps.”

When Kaito turns, Hakuba is thoroughly engrossed in picking out what he deems the best toy for Hana-chan, pulling them off the rack one by one to read the description on the back. Even after all the disagreements and all the spying he’s done, Hakuba is a difficult person for Kaito to understand. He holds secrets close, lips sealed when it comes to things that he wants and yet is entirely loose when it comes to pertinent information about himself, casually volunteering it without prompting as though it’s all worthless to him. All to someone he knows will use it against him,  _ should _ use it against him.

Kaito’s head hurts from it all.

“I’m not who you should be telling this to,” Kaito says eventually, trying hard to hold onto his disinterest.

“Right.” The smile on Hakuba’s face looks terrible, and he misses the hook when he tries to replace an item. “My apologies. I’ve spoken too much.”

“What I mean is,” Kaito coughs, quickly correcting his mistake. “There are better people to tell this to instead of  _ me _ .”

“There really isn’t anyone,” Hakuba says, and there he goes again. Kaito wants to shake some kind of sense into him - Kaito really does  _ not _ want to know. “But I’m sorry, either way. Say, are you sure you don’t want to see Amelia? You’ve helped me settle her in, I mean. So I thought - “

“Fine.” Kaito cuts in harshly. “I’ll go. But only for Amelia. Although you should probably let your housekeeper know that I will be over.”

“You will?” Hakuba is looking at him as though he had just promised him a first edition Holmes for his birthday, and Kaito grunts, irritation chafing in his chest. He understands how Hakuba feels entirely, of course, the want to keep his family happy, particularly one who has been with him through thick and thin. His house, although not as big as Hakuba’s, is still cold and lonely. He can’t imagine what it’s like for him. Tragic, really. “Today?”

“Not today. I still have work. Wednesday? If your housekeeper is amenable, and  _ only _ if we don’t have too much schoolwork.”

“I’m agreeable to that.” Clearly eager, Hakuba already has his phone out, Kaito swallowing his sigh before Hakuba can misconstrue it for something else. “Wednesday?”

“Yes.” All he wanted was a pudding, his box of miso, and birdseed. “Fine.”

“Lovely.” The information goes into Hakuba’s planner, because he’s weird and old fashioned like that. “Thank you, Kuroba-kun.”

He can’t for the life of him figure out what he is thanking him for, but he does think that Hakuba looks closer to his actual age when he stops pretending to be smart and smiles that way. 

That night, he eats two pudding cups, because by Wednesday, his diet is guaranteed to be ruined anyway.

::

Wednesday, and Hakuba sticks to him like a burr the moment the school bell signalling the end of school sounds, smiling hopefully whenever Kaito glances over at him. When he sights the car idling just outside of the school gates, he turns right back and hauls Hakuba aside before his housekeeper could spot them.

“Tell her - uh, that I have some duties to tend to in school and will join you later.”

“Why?” Hakuba, the idiot, looks genuinely baffled, as though there’s nothing wrong with him having his housekeeper drive them around. It’s certainly not the kind of attention Kaito wants to get from his schoolmates, and he’ll never hear the end of it if they see him getting into the car with Hakuba. It’ll definitely be harder to suppress the rumours he’s just quelled about Hakuba around school, too. “You want me to lie to Baaya?”

“I don’t want to be any trouble.”

“It’s no trouble.”

“I want to change out of my uniform at home.”

“We can drive you there.”

The obstinate  _ idiot _ . “It isn’t polite.”

“But we don’t mind.” Hakuba cocks his head, the movement oddly birdlike. “We’ve invited you, after all. It’s no trouble at all.”

“It’s not - just tell her, will you? That I’m busy or something. Please?” Hakuba looks down in surprise at the finger poking him in the chest, and embarrassed, Kaito backs off. “There  _ is _ something I need to do, and I rather not drag you around on my chores. I need to feed my birds before heading over.” Now that was a lie.

“Oh.” Understanding dawns on Hakuba’s face, and he relaxes. “Well then. If you get lost on the way, text me and I’ll - “

“I  _ won’t _ .” Please keep the car out of it. “Don’t keep her waiting, young master Hakuba.”

“Just text me - “

“Oh just leave already!” Kaito pushes him out of their temporary hiding place, flapping his hand at him until Hakuba leaves, albeit still looking reluctantly back at him. He gives him a thumbs up when he gets to the car, and sags against the pillar behind him when the car does pull away with Hakuba in it, already tired from navigating Hakuba’s own personal concept of ‘acceptable’. Hardly a wonder that he takes so many liberties when he’s like that, blundering all over Japan’s social etiquette because he thinks it’s acceptable and will likely say yes if the situation was reversed. It makes him weirdly both an asshole and a pushover at the same time, and Kaito sighs loudly, regretting not issuing Hakuba a heist note and ending the issue before it could develop into  _ this _ .

Anyway. Omiyage. Treat for Watson.

He is going to do this.

(He feels like an idiot.)

::

It’s Hakuba’s Baaya who answers the door when he rings the doorbell, Kaito nearly startled at the quick response when she pulls it open, the old lady beaming up at him. 

“Kuroba-kun, I presume?” She ushers him in, herding him into the house before he can so much as take off his shoes. “Don’t worry. We run this house western style, so there is no need to remove your shoes. The young master is waiting for you - have you had lunch yet, Kuroba-kun? I have prepared a simple lunch that I hope is to your taste… “

Kaito, intimidated by her aggressive welcoming only nods along vigorously, unable to get a word in edgewise as he is shown to the dining room - the actual dining room, and not the one he knows Hakuba usually eats in. It’s the one with actual carpeting, ornate furnishings, dark wood panelling and an oppressive looking 16-seater dining table occupying the center of it. Hakuba’s seated at the end of it, chin in hand with his brow furrowed, but he quickly gets to his feet the moment Kaito steps in, the look of immense relief wiping away whatever reservations Kaito might have.

“Kuroba-kun! You’re here.” When Hakuba runs his hip into the corner of his own table, Kaito turns away from him and bites down on the inside of his cheek before he could laugh, trying his best not to think about all the people that had likely ditched Hakuba to instill such a reaction in him. “Please, sit. Have you had lunch yet?”

“I won’t blame you for dressing normally for once,” Kaito tells him, eyeing the suit Hakuba is currently wearing, Kaito himself in a machine worn shirt and jeans. “Ah, and… this is for you. It isn’t much, but I hope that it will be to your liking.”

Since he isn’t quite sure what to get for everyone, Kaito had went along with Aoko’s suggestion and bought them cakes from a well reviewed patisserie in town. Hakuba’s Baaya accepts it graciously, exchanging some sort of  _ look _ with Hakuba before excusing herself.

“Lunch?” Hakuba turns to him with a bright smile, clapping his hands together. “I’m starving. I think we’re having salmon, since it magically appeared in the fridge this morning.”

“I’m not picky,” Kaito shrugs, setting down his bag on a nearby chair. “But can we eat in the kitchen instead?”

Lunch is delicious, and Baaya ruins his diet just like he expected her to by plying him with second helpings of everything, including a gigantic scoop of buttery mashed potato. Hakuba does nothing to stop her, clearly pleased that Kaito has ended up as her entertainment for the day, and simply eats his lunch in general silence. Kaito compliments Baaya on her food, Baaya skillfully playing it down and they talk about pots and pans in general, specifically cast iron pans and crockpots.

“Do you have an interest in cooking?” Baaya asks in an attempt to divert his attention away when Kaito offers to help wash up. “You’re very knowledgeable, Kuroba-kun.”

“Not really,” Kaito admits, bringing the dirty plates and cutlery to the sink. “It’s a lot of work to cook for just one person, so it isn’t anything fancy. Thankfully, the only thing I crave for these days is tofu hamburger.”

“Kuroba.” Just as he looks away, Hakuba’s housekeeper takes the dirty plates from him and shoos him away from the sink. “Shall I give you a tour of the house? Or if you like, I can show you to where I keep Watson.”

Hakuba’s Baaya is terrifyingly efficient at chores, and Kaito spends a moment or two just staring at how quickly she’s putting everything away before nodding. “If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to see Amelia first.”

“That’s what I thought you would say.”

::

Hana-chan flutters over to nest in his hair the moment he steps in, clearly missing him as much as he does her, but obviously not enough for her to try to return home. There’s even an open window where she’s kept, and she isn’t even trying. Kaito taps gently on her beak in admonishment when Hakuba isn’t looking, scowling down at his bird.

“Your master misses you,” he whispers down at her, Hana-chan only giving him an innocent look, if birds have any sort of grasp on complex emotions. Probably not. “Your  _ family _ misses you. They’ll put your picture on the side of the milk carton if you don’t come home soon.”

“What’s this about a milk carton?” Kaito nearly starts when Hakuba’s voice sounds right beside him. “What are you trying to teach my bird?”

“Nothing. I’m sure you misheard.” Hana-chan burbles, and Kaito wonders what exactly it is that is keeping her by Hakuba’s side. Is there something particularly attractive about Hakuba that is visible only to birds? It is true that Hakuba reminds him of a particularly clumsy penguin on land at times, his grace by far too wooden for it to have been natural. Is that attractive to birds? “How do you keep yourself - “ he waves his free hand over Hakuba. “ - when she cooks like that every day?”

“I don’t seem to be able to gain weight, no matter how much I eat,” Hakuba says, giving Kaito yet another reason to hate him. “She cooks to her heart’s content, and I eat it. It’s a good arrangement. I take it that the food is to your liking?”

“In the same way that the ocean is damp, yes.” Kaito looks away before he could be blinded by Hakuba’s answering smile. “So why are you always eating seaweed and rice in school?”

“Ah.” He looks embarrassed now. “I saw it on the telly.”

“And so you thought you would eat it every day? I’m not exactly surprised.”

“What of it?” Hakuba sounds offended, and Kaito quickly sets Hana-chan into his hands. It works like a charm, and he cuddles her close to him, fledgling anger quickly diffused. “She’s so different from Watson. I love her.”

“She - “ Kaito cuts himself off before he could say something damning like  _ Hana-chan tends to inspire that in people _ . “Of course. She’s not a predatory bird like Watson. Her instincts don’t lie with hunting. Spend enough time with doves and they will love you back. Hawks are just bloodthirsty.”

“That’s not true. She loves differently, but no less than your doves would love you. She cannot help being what she is.” Hakuba pauses, still tickling Hana-chan on the head with a finger. “Do you want to handle her?”

“Amelia?”

“Watson, of course. She doesn’t know any tricks, but if you want to… ” Hakuba studiously avoids looking at him. “I can teach you how to hold her.”

Despite his initial reluctance, Kaito does have a good time. He never gets to hold Watson, because the bird seems to have some sort of grudge against him, clicking her beak irritably and mantling whenever Hakuba tries to hand her over to him, and they settle for Hakuba showing her off the way proud pet owners always do.

“She doesn’t like me much,” Hakuba admits when she lets out a piercing screech, smiling fondly down at his sparrowhawk shuffling about on his forearm. “But I love her very much.”

“Aren’t all hawks bred as captive birds?” Kaito tilts his glass towards him, ice cubes clinking against the glass. “She seems to like you plenty.”

“I think she just tolerates me,” Hakuba says, Kaito frowning into his own hand because evidently it isn’t true. If Watson is as wild as he claims she is, she would have left his awkward ass behind as soon as she possibly could. Wild birds tend not to stay without good incentive, and he doesn’t think Hakuba’s old family money is what endears her to him. “Don’t you, Watson?”

Watson doesn’t answer, ducking her head to itch at a spot beneath her wing, and Kaito sighs quietly through his nose. It’s evident that Hakuba has somehow blinded himself to his own good qualities, consciously overcompensating whenever he can. It isn’t his place to say anything or to try to be his mum, so Kaito keeps his mouth occupied by crunching on all the ice cubes in his glass, hoping that it’ll cool the contradictory thoughts he has flitting about inside his head.

“I’m sorry today was a bore,” Hakuba says when the sun is low in the sky and he has failed for the third time to convince Kaito to take the car home. “We didn’t get to do much, after all.”

“I had fun.” Kaito says, actually meaning it. “So thank you for inviting me. I hope I wasn’t too much trouble.”

“Not at all.” Hakuba looks like he scarcely believes his own ears, and Kaito wishes he can act like an ass to justify his own behaviour towards him. “I… I had fun, too. You’re welcome to visit Amelia and Watson whenever you want. I’m sure Baaya will feel less lonely, if you visit.”

“And you?”

“Pardon me?” He looks away quickly when Hakuba turns back towards him, cursing the slip. Evidently, he’s spent too much time under the sun. 

“I’ll drop by again,” Kaito promises.

::

_ I don’t want to give her back. _

Kaito squints at the text on his phone, the light of the screen still blinding even on it’s lowest setting when he’s woken up at the ungodly time of 2.35 A.M. because Hakuba is having a crisis about  _ birds _ . His bird, specifically. One that he isn’t even owning for real.

_ shut up im sleeping _

His phone chirps again after what he is sure must be a gruelling three minutes of struggle on Hakuba’s end, and Kaito drags his phone back out from under the pillow once more.  _ Sorry. Goodnight, Kuroba _ .

Hakuba picks up on the first ring with a quiet ‘oops’ and the sound of fumbling, awkward when he finally does speak. “My apologies for waking you, Kuroba. Go back to sleep.”

“The damage is done, anyway. I’m up.” Kaito yawns, and pushes his pillows up behind his back to better lean on them, the building opposite his dark and silent and asleep when he pulls the curtains back from his windows. “What do you want?”

“Nothing.” Hakuba sounds appropriately contrite. “Sorry. Forget I texted - it was irrational of me.”

“Hmm,” says Kaito, the dregs of his mind still slow from sleep, buzzing quietly like lazy flies. “Are you drunk?”

“What?” Surprise, bright enough to dispel some of Kaito’s drowsiness a little. “No.”

“Just asking.” Kaito closes his eyes. He can imagine Hakuba in his bedroom, desk lamp on as he clutches his phone to his ear, tired but obstinately refusing to go to sleep. He should, because clearly he’s tired even in the day, Kaito finding him dozing in the stairway during lunch break in school by accident. A case? Personal matters? Really, Kaito should know better than to pry… “Go to sleep, Hakuba. You can worry about Amelia and KID tomorrow. After you’ve slept.”

“I - “

“You look like shit these days. If your mirror could talk, that’s what it’d say.” Kaito pitches his voice upwards into a slightly more feminine pitch. “‘You look ill, bocchama.’ What’s keeping you? It’s irritating.”

A long silence, in which Kaito nearly dozes off before Hakuba speaks again, reminding him that he’s still on a call. “You’re rather talkative.”

“I can’t help it.” His brain to mouth filter has never been any effective when he’s half asleep. “It’s 3 in the morning. Case?”

“Something like that.” Hakuba sounds evasive, and Kaito doesn’t press. “She’s yours, isn’t she?“

“I tag all of my birds.” Not an outright lie - Kaito does tag all of birds, but KID’s flock he leaves entirely unmarked. “Are you developing reverse Stockholm syndrome on KID’s bird?”

“Cease the thought.” There’s more of a British accent to Hakuba’s words, and Kaito hums drowsily through the phone. “I just - he hasn’t come for her, and I… “

“I’m sure he knows that she is with you. It’s hard to imagine that someone who can outsmart you can’t keep track of where his doves are. Besides, you can’t make her stay if she doesn’t want to. You’re nice.”

“I’m… “ Hakuba splutters quietly. Kaito imagines him choking on his own tongue. “Nice?”

“Birdseed.” Kaito offers by way of explanation, and yawns widely, nearly missing Hakuba’s quiet ‘oh’ through the phone. “I’m going back to sleep.”

“Please. I don’t know what got into me.” There’s what sounds like pages turning, and Kaito yawns again at the thought of studying. “My apologies. Goodnight, Kuroba.”

“Everyone worries. It’s normal.” Kaito advises. “Goodnight, Hakuba.”

He hangs up first and tosses the phone aside, good on his word, and is asleep again in under two minutes.

Ever since his visit to Hakuba’s house, Hakuba had been texting him on a near weekly basis, all of his texts either something that Kaito has no response for (“the weather is lovely today”) or photos of either Hana-chan or Watson. There’s one of Hana-chan with a piece of broken off cracker as a crown, and Kaito has to talk himself out of using it as a wallpaper, instead spending time dyeing his flock and sending the results back to Hakuba.

_ Is that safe? _ Hakuba, the unromantic, as always.

_ Food colouring _ . He tucks his phone away back into the pocket of his jeans, and focuses on recolouring the birds so they look less like doves, and more like the fat, scruffy pigeons that strut around near his next heist building. He sets them free discreetly, and chooses to spend the rest of the day window shopping, inevitably roped into purchasing a few shirts for himself because there is a discount that he cannot resist.

He’s eating a lime popsicle when the caw of a crow draws his attention, the bird perched on the back of a chair and eyeing him intently with its beady eyes. It’s large, for a crow, and Kaito wriggles his fingers at it when it caws again.

“Hallo there,” he says, at which it takes off into the air with a gust of wind and bits of fluff and dust coming free from its plumage. He ducks on instinct, but it doesn’t try to fly at him, instead landing a few steps away and flapping its wings. All normal behaviour for a bird, probably, but since Kaito has nothing else to do, he follows it at a leisure pace.

It brings him down the street, past an enthusiastically kissing couple under the awning of a closed bar, around the corner, and Kaito halts right on the edge of a crime scene, red tape fluttering gently in the wind. The crow caws, takes off in a flash of black feathers, and there is Hakuba on the edge of the crowd in what looks to be a serious conversation with the lead police detective on the case. The body’s in a bag, which - thank god for small mercies. There isn’t much of a crowd, most of the curious onlookers already dispersing now that most of the excitement is over. Kaito can’t say that he is sorry he missed it. From where he’s standing, Hakuba looks tired. He can’t see well from this distance, of course, but it’s written in the stiff line of his back, the slight slouch to his shoulders. 

As he watches, Hakuba looks down at his mobile phone when the police detective turns away for a moment, thumbs flying over the keypad quickly before Kaito’s own phone chirps in his pocket.

_ The little bows are a lovely touch. _

_ Texting me at a crime scene, detective? _

He waves when Hakuba’s head snaps up, offering him a smile at the bewildered expression the detective has on, breaking full out into a grin when Hakuba strides over to him, looking vaguely panicked. “Yo.”

“Kuroba! You - “ Hakuba’s hands grip onto the tape, and Kaito cocks his head at him. “Why are you here?”

“A crow brought me here,” Kaito says, which is the truth. “And you?”

“A body.” A wry smile pulls up the corner of Hakuba’s lips, and he strips off the one forensics glove he has on, tossing it into a small plastic bag. “I thought I could use a walk on my free day. If I had known - excuse me for a moment.”

Kaito licks the wooden stick of his ice lolly clean while Hakuba hurries back to the officers still cleaning up around the scene. The lead police detective isn’t anyone Kaito recognises, and he doesn’t look pleased, Hakuba nodding and bowing slightly now and then in their conversation, clearly the more subservient of the two, touching his own wrist constantly. It irks Kaito, for reasons he doesn’t want to name, and he glares at the man when he does look over in his direction. 

No one -  _ no one _ in Division One would think of speaking to the Heisei Holmes in this manner, even though both Hakuba and Kudou are of the same age. He doesn’t think that it’s a comparison of intelligence or skill. Hakuba is skilled. He closes cases just as efficiently as Kudou does, although his method of approach is vastly different. Here, Hakuba fights to push his own deductions through instead of having their cooperation or even a willing listening ear. What is so different about them, really? One has the police force eating out of the palm of his hand, and the other is nearly kept out of a crime scene despite of his ability to close a case. Grinding his teeth, Kaito cracks into a can of sun-warmed soda, swilling the sugary liquid around his mouth as Hakuba bows one last time and the police force leaves.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” There are shadows under Hakuba’s eyes, and he looks a little pale if Kaito cares to look more closely. “Sorry you had to see that.”

“He pisses me off so much.”

“What?” Knocked off-kilter, Hakuba stares at him while Kaito squirts hand sanitizer into Hakuba’s hands. “Who?”

“Who? That guy in charge. Haven’t seen him around here… is he new?” Kaito scowls after the police car one last time, and motions for Hakuba to follow up, which the other does with a lost expression on his face. “Don’t seem very friendly.”

“I’m not part of the force, or a consultant hired by them. Is it really so surprising? Although, sometimes I am still a little taken aback by their reluctance to just hear me out even with our common goals.” Hakuba sounds like he’s giving Kaito a reciting of the day’s weather report, but there’s genuine injury beneath his nonchalant words. “Don’t take it personally. I’m used to it.”

“Huh.” Kaito considers the first time they’ve all seen Hakuba on TV, when he’d been proud and arrogant in his ridiculous Holmes getup, and how tired and chewed out the teenager standing next to him is. “Are you hungry?”

“Peckish. I should - “ Hakuba tugs his sleeve back to glance at his watch, and Kaito reaches out to cover the face of the watch with a hand. “ - get home? What is it, Kuroba?”

“Have lunch with me.” For some reason, Hakuba turns pink, and Kaito wonders if he is actually sick. “I’ll pay.”

“Why would you want to do that?” Surprise, again, and Kaito is getting to be really tired of that face Hakuba makes - all wide eyes and parted lips, defenseless when he could be easily taken advantage of. He would have been a prime target for bullying, were he any younger. He wonders how school went for him back in England. “I can pay - “

“Don’t argue about money with me, rich young master. I will pay for the food, and in return, you don’t have any say in what we’re eating. You can’t complain about it, as well, just to even that out.” 

Hakuba looks like he might argue, for a moment, but then his shoulders slump, and he smiles. “Fine.”

Kaito drags him into a family mart, and then down into the food street, emerging with takeaway containers of okonomiyaki, taiyaki, and sticks of dango that Hakuba seems to be very interested in.

“Hardly a proper lunch, is it?” Hakuba asks when Kaito leads him into a small park. “Rice balls and sweets.”

“Alas! The young master has been poisoned by commoner food. We need an ambulance.” Kaito sets the food down on the bench, and begins to distribute the food out. “Mentaiko or omelette?”

“Mentaiko, please.” Plastic bags of food occupy the space between them on the bench, and they lapse into a comfortable silence, interrupted occasionally by the rustling of plastic as they search for something else to share. It doesn’t take long before the birds decide to join them, hopping closer to Hakuba’s foot in the hopes that he might throw them crumbs - which he does, tossing them bits of lettuce from the salad that Kaito is ignoring. “Do you eat like this, often?”

“The only meal I sit down for is dinner.” He’d be too busy for much else, otherwise, his meals often snatched on the go these days particularly when there’s an exam in school or an upcoming heist to prepare for, usually a sandwich or something. “Why?”

“No,” says Hakuba, looking thoughtful as he licks sweetened soy sauce off his fingers. “It’s nothing.”

He changes the topic quickly immediately, Kaito only half listening as he munches his way through all the food he’s bought, grunting now and then to keep the one-sided conversation going, wondering exactly how much further he has to jog tomorrow to make up for all the calories he is consuming today. He doesn’t notice when Hakuba trails off into a contemplative silence next to him, still a little preoccupied with planning the heist out in his mind.

Everything is temporary, and as such, Kaito is caught severely off guard when Hakuba decides that it shouldn’t be.

(But that comes much later.)

“Hakuba - are you feeding them  _ chicken? _ ”

::

Another night, wrong jewel, and Kaito is seriously considering getting himself a tub of creme brulee ice cream as a treat for all the trouble when the door to the roof access opens and closes behind him. Behind him, Hakuba leans on the wall for support, red in the face from having run up the stairs despite the elevator being perfectly serviceable.

“Hakuba-tantei.” Kaito turns, wind billowing his cloak back from his shoulders. He likes that. It’s suitably dramatic for when he’s just stolen another million dollar jewel under the noses of a barrelful of policemen. “Fancy seeing you here.”

“Why would I not be - “ Hakuba breaks off into a bout of coughing, Kaito wincing on his behalf. It isn’t everyday that someone decides to straight up take the stairs at a run from the ground floor to the twenty-first floor in a peacoat. Kaito’s flattered, really, but what an  _ idiot _ .

“How is Hana-chan?” He asks instead, Hakuba clearly drawing blanks from the look on his face, still wheezing for air. “Take it slow, or you’ll throw up.”

“Thanks.” There’s sarcasm in Hakuba’s voice as he pushes hair out of his face, still rubbing at his chest. “The jewel, please.”

“Hana-chan, please,” Kaito parrots back at him, and offers him an innocent smile when Hakuba seems irked. “The bird you stole from me. Impressively sticky fingers, Hakuba tantei. To think that you would steal from  _ me _ .”

“I did not  _ steal  _ her. She chose to nest in my pocket.” Hakuba pats himself down, and then produces Suika-chan in his left hand. “Like this. Only I found her after the heist back then.”

“ _ Thief _ .” A soft whistling has Suika-chan returning to him, perching on his shoulder with a quiet coo. “Are you getting along well?”

“Ame - Hana-chan?” Hakuba straightens, cheeks still ruddy but speaking more evenly. “She’s a lovely bird. I - ”

“Is she eating well?”

“Yes?” A small furrow appears between Hakuba’s brow. It’s amusing, watching him treat each question from him as though a riddle, complicating the simplest things. 

“Is she giving you trouble?”

“No? Where is this leading?” Hakuba being Hakuba, he asks the most boring questions. Kaito tips his head to the side, watches him shift into a defensive stance. “The jewel, KID.”

“Catch.” He makes a tossing movement, Hakuba immediately starting for his right before realising that it was a feint, Kaito holding out the actual jewel to him with a grin between thumb and forefinger. “Here.”

It’s not unlike baiting a wild cat with food, if the bait is an emerald worth millions in USD. Hakuba approaches him warily, and finally snatches the gem from him, Kaito clicking his tongue at him for his rudeness. Hakuba’s still examining the gem for forgery (clever boy) when Kaito puts a hand in his hair and roughly messes it up, Hakuba immediately batting his hand away, eyes wide. His hair sticks up in all directions now. “What - “

“You’re a good one,” he says, stepping back out onto the ledge. Behind him, a twenty-one stories drop to the concrete floor, the wind bringing the wail of sirens up to him. “Although bratty. Look after her, will you?”

“Wait - “ Hakuba makes a grab for him, but he’s already plummeting off the side of the building with a maniacal grin. He’s said his piece, and he’s eager for some ice cream and a good sleep. Suika-chan is already flying ahead, a speck of white in the distance, homing in on his house, and rather belatedly, he wonders if Hakuba ever has the brilliant idea of simply tagging Hana-chan and just setting her free. The evidence would have been rather damning, after all, and even if it isn’t anything that holds up in court, it would have caused him a great deal of stress. Would Hakuba have thought of it?

He would have, if it were him.

(Surely, he would have thought of it?)

::

“What’s  _ good _ about him? He gives you birdseed, and you forget all about me? I raised you from an egg, you idiot Hana-chan.”

The floor is littered with bits of coloured paper and string, a pack of cards strewn over the carpet, Hakuba cursing in English when he accidentally steps on a marble on the way back to the table. Kaito ignores him, still busy checking Hana-chan’s wings, spreading them out carefully despite her immense dislike for the entire procedure, pecking at his fingers every chance she gets.

“Talking to my bird again?” Hakuba sets down a mug of green tea by his elbow, ignoring the pout that Kaito sends him and settling back down at his seat, returning to the page he’d been reading previously. “How cute.”

Kaito bristles slightly, but shifts to lie flat on his stomach instead. “Do you not talk to Watson? Birds grow up better if you talk to them. It’s called socializing.”

He’s over at Hakuba’s for a study session that is quickly devolving into a procrastination session, Hakuba eagerly abandoning his textbooks when he realizes that some online story he has been following religiously had just been updated. Kaito, left on his own without someone to prod him into studying, chooses to take the time to check on Hana-chan as well as practise a few tricks.

“Whatever will I talk to Watson about? She won’t understand me.” There’s a bowl of popcorn by Hakuba’s elbow that is steadily emptying out, and Kaito has to constantly keep Hana-chan from stealing any, Hana-chan not recognising that it isn’t the unsalted kind that he feeds them now and then as a treat. “I’m not desperate enough to want to talk to a bird yet, Kuroba.”

“People talk to their pets all the time. They’ll recognise your tone, if not the meaning of your words. Surely you know that.” 

“Hm,” Hakuba says, and no one says anything for a while after that. Kaito finds a spot of sunlight by the window and lies in it, sunning himself in the gentle warmth. The only sounds in the room are the clicking of the computer mouse and Hana-chan’s contented burble by his ear. Kaito feels himself relax slowly, running his hand over the rug that he is lying on, watching Hakuba click around on his computer, chin in hand, a look of concentration on his face. He’s nearly dozing off when Hakuba wakes him with a light touch on the shoulder, looking exasperated. “Take the bed if you’re going to sleep. Don’t sleep on the floor.”

“Who are you, my mother?” Kaito sits up, grumbling, still drowsy as Hakuba pulls him to his feet and leads him over to the bed. “I’ll be taking the bed then. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” It will take too much energy to decipher the kind of expression that Hakuba is wearing right now, so he doesn’t attempt to, pulling the pillow close to him and making himself comfortable immediately. “Try not to drool on my pillow, Kuroba.” 

Kaito gives him a two-fingered salute, earning a slap to his arse with a cushion for his efforts before Hakuba tosses the folded blankets onto his head. Making an offended noise, Kaito immediately half drapes the blankets over his lap. The blanket and pillow smell like Hakuba, a pleasant combination of soap, clean sheets and something else faintly just him. Under the pillow, something sharp pricks at his hand, and he pulls it out to discover a rather long flight feather, tawny brown with an odd speckle of black near the quill at the bottom. Kaito twirls it idly between his fingers, considering. It’s far too long for Watson, the length of the feather suggesting a much larger wingspan than even the largest sparrowhawk. He doesn’t think that there is a bird of that size around the Hakuba estates, at least not from what he’s observed from the times he’s been over. A quick search turn up more contour and semiplume feathers, all fluffy and brown. It’s as though a particularly gigantic bird had been rolling about in Hakuba’s bed.

“I think your pillow is shedding,” Kaito says, tossing a handful of them out at Hakuba who, for some reason, goes oddly pale. “Or your blanket is. Replace them, won’t you?”

“I’ll think about it,” Hakuba says, voice tight as he turns back to his computer, Kaito burying his face into his pillow to sleep. “Rest well, Kuroba. I’ll wake you for dinner.”

When he sleeps, he dreams in impressions - a golden sun, hot in its intensity, beneath the wide sky the sound of rustling feathers and powerful wingbeats, dried grass beneath his feet. When Hakuba does wake him for dinner, he stares long and hard at his face thoughtfully until Hakuba gets nervous, and he all but flees in the direction of the kitchen. Kaito scratches at his head, and ambles off towards the en suite bathroom to wash off the remnants of the dream, splashing cold water onto his face and neck. The flight feather he tucks away into a textbook, shoving it back into his bag before making his way down for dinner with Hakuba and Baaya. Birds of that size don’t exist, and he doesn’t feel like asking.

Hakuba avoids looking at him throughout dinner.

::

On the news, there’s something about a serial murderer on the loose, Kaito idly keeping along with the news on his phone the fifteen minutes of free time he has before first period starts, and Hakuba looks like he’s been losing sleep. Hakuba sits through first period in a daze, dozes through the second and sleeps entirely through the third into break. No one thinks to wake him, and when the bell for break rings, he starts himself awake when someone accidentally knocks their pencil case off the desk with a loud clatter. 

He excuses himself to the nurse’s office before the bell for fourth period rings, and Kaito returns to scrolling through his Twitter feed, deciding that worrying before he knows what the problem is is useless. It isn’t as though Hakuba is a small kid he has to worry about, unlike a reckless someone else he knows in Tokyo. Hakuba, however, is stubborn and headstrong, and Kaito wonders if he’s faring well with his new case, and if the detectives he’s working with on the case are still as rotten towards him as ever. Kaito imagines them shutting Hakuba out of it, only for him to strongarm his way back in with the assistance of his father, eager to serve justice no matter the means or the price. 

Lunch, and Kaito has to rescue Hakuba’s water bottle from Akako, who looks like she’s thinking of attempting witchcraft on it. Hakuba’s school bag is full of notes and folders, and Kaito takes his time rummaging through them as he looks for the lunch box that Hakuba should have brought with him. He finds none, but the information in the notebook that he discovers in the back compartment is rather interesting. Swiping his own wallet, he drops by the cafeteria before making his way to the nurse’s office.

It’s quiet, the nurse out for the moment and the curtains drawn around the bed on the far side of the room. Kaito shuts the door behind him, and draws back the curtains to find Hakuba curled up on his side and fast asleep. He doesn’t wake, not even when Kaito sits down on the side of the bed. His colour is sickly, pale, and the skin over his bottom lip is chewed through and torn. Kaito ghosts fingers over his brow, his hair, then settles for shaking him violently by the shoulders.

Hakuba wakes up with a yell.

“Oh god!” Hakuba clutches the front of his shirt, colour high on his cheeks. “Oh. It’s you.”

“It’s lunch.” Kaito holds out his own lunchbox towards Hakuba while Hakuba groans into his hands. “Feel better?”

“Not after you’ve shaken me like that, no.” The smile Hakuba gives him is sickly, but he doesn’t protest the food. “Sorry to trouble.”

“The teacher sent me along to check on you, so.” Kaito shrugs carelessly, putting a straw into his juice drink. “Whatever. Eat.”

Slowly, reluctantly, Hakuba does, chewing each bite of food carefully while Kaito makes himself comfortable at the end of the bed, playing a new mobile game he’s downloaded recently. Halfway through the lunchbox, Hakuba pauses, setting down his chopsticks and blinking. 

“You don’t have to finish it if you can’t,” Kaito advises him, trying to recreate his hi-score again. “Are you quite alright?”

“What - “ Hakuba sways, and Kaito hurriedly takes the lunch box and chopsticks from him, guiding Hakuba to lie back down on the bed before he could do something his brand of stupid like fall off and hit his head. “Kuroba - ?”

“I’ll get the nurse for you.” Kaito allows himself to sound panicked, running out of the nurse’s office presumably to fetch her, instead stopping just outside of the office and waiting for half a minute so the sleeping pills will fully kick in. Sure enough, Hakuba is deeply asleep by the time he returns, and patting him down for his mobile, he gives Baaya a call, coughing before he pitches his voice into a female’s range.

“Hello? May I speak to Ms. Margaret, please? Yes, I’m afraid Hakuba-kun isn’t feeling well... “

Once he’s sure that Hakuba is safely on his way home, Kaito checks himself out of school with an excuse. There’s a half baked plan in his head, and Kaito determinedly does not think about why he is doing this, and more of what he is going to do next. He isn’t much of a detective, but between his brains and Hakuba’s notes, there should be enough to work with to get him through what he wants to do.

::

He sleeps in the next day. Partially because it’s the weekend, and partially because bringing a murderer to justice is hard work. He doesn’t know Hakuba does it, day after day, but at least he will be getting less grief for it. He’s airing out his comforter and pillows in the sun when he notices a familiar car idling just down the road, and goes outside still in his lounge pants to tap politely on the window. Hakuba looks like he had just been caught shoplifting, Baaya rolling down the window to greet him.

“You may as well come in,” he says.

He settles them in the kitchen, shuffling off for a proper change of clothes while Hakuba does his best to behave and not poke around like the nosy git they both know he is. Baaya is gone when he returns, Hakuba fidgeting uncomfortably as he stares long and hard at Kaito’s electric kettle.

“I hope I’m not intruding.” Under the table, Hakuba shreds a napkin. Kaito can tell from the bits of tissue littering the floor at his feet. “Disrupting your plans, I mean. Sorry.”

Hakuba looks much better today with the colour back in his cheeks, sitting up just that bit straighter as compared to yesterday. Kaito is aware of his constant gaze on him, although he averts his eyes each time Kaito turns back towards him, setting out plates and cutlery and mugs of coffee. 

“About yesterday… “ Hakuba looks surprised when Kaito slides bacon and eggs onto his plate. “For me?”

“No, I’m going to feed my rabbits bacon.” Kaito resists rolling his eyes. “The nurse told me you passed out from fatigue, so they sent you home. Are you feeling any better today?”

“Quite.” Hakuba frowns down at his plate. “Thank you - for yesterday, and for the food.”

“Stop staring at your food and eat it, then.” Kaito fills up his own plate, and pulls out a salad from inside of his fridge. “I have your classwork with me, so I’ll pass it on to you later.”

Baaya doesn’t seem to be returning, and the car is gone when he checks while soaping up the dishes in his sink. Since Hakuba is still fidgeting around the kitchen, Kaito gives him a mop.

“Chores,” Kaito explains. “The house won’t clean itself, and since you’re here, you may as well help out.”

He sets Hakuba to mopping the floor, but after observing him dragging the mop about with more enthusiasm than skill, Kaito quickly gives him the new job of taking down the curtains he has up around the house so that he can wash them. It doesn’t take long before Hakuba returns to him with an armful of dusty curtains, sneezing uncontrollably. “Where do I leave these?”

“Just put them on the floor next to the washing machine.” Expectedly, he looks up to find Hakuba mucking with his box of washing powder. “Leave it. I’ll do the washing.”

“I just want to help,” Hakuba says earnestly. “I did the laundry myself, when I was studying overseas. I like doing the laundry.”

“Good for you?” Kaito returns to his own task of cleaning the floor, rinsing out the mop in the sink now and then before making his way up stairs with dryer sheets and spray polish. Hakuba trails after him like a lost puppy, before hurrying towards the windows when he spots more curtains for him to take down. “You don’t have to be so enthusiastic about household chores, you know.”

“But I like helping.” Hakuba sneezes again as he pulls down the curtains. “It’s only right that I return the favour in what little way I can.”

Spraying the floor polish onto the dryer sheets, Kaito only grunts. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“No.” He can feel Hakuba’s eyes on him, his classmate’s voice oddly soft. “I don’t suppose you do.”

He knows exactly what Hakuba is talking about. Hakuba’s name is all over the media by now, along with the arrest of the serial murderer they’ve all been after. What can Kaito say? Sometimes, it takes a criminal to catch a criminal. He had politely requested for Hakuba’s name to be kept out of it, but apparently his request had gone over deaf ears, and he can only imagine how confusing it had been when Hakuba had woken up to find that he is now famous overnight (not that he isn’t already famous, just more famous than he was before). Considering that Hakuba had been asleep for the majority of yesterday, there is only one other person who could impersonate him  _ and _ solve the case.

“Why are people so contradictory, Kuroba?” Hakuba sighs, looking out through the window. It doesn’t seem as though he is looking for an answer, but Kaito gives him one anyway.

“Because people are emotional, flawed beings. If people aren’t contradictory, then we can easily be replaced by machines. What was it someone said? ‘Truth is a violent contradiction.’ I guess - no, wait, don’t step there - “

His warning is a second too late, and Hakuba goes down with a yell, socked feet slipping on Kaito’s newly polished floor and taking Kaito with him. Kaito hits the floor hard, the impact driving the air from his lungs, made worse when Hakuba falls right on top of him. When it doesn’t seem as though he will move, Kaito rudely digs his knuckles into Hakuba’s ribs, his classmate giving a painful yelp from above him. “Stop it!”

“I’ll stop if you get off me!” Kaito hisses, then freezes when he feels a knee pressing up against his crotch, Hakuba grumbling as he scrambles back up on his hands and knees… and stops. Just stops. Kaito frowns up at him. “Oi… ”

“Sorry,” says Hakuba automatically, but he doesn’t budge an inch, instead caging Kaito in with his body. Kaito holds himself still as Hakuba brushes fingers over the shell of his ear, the other boy’s expression inscrutable. It’s hard to tell what Hakuba is thinking, and Kaito turns his head away, uncomfortable with how close Hakuba is to him, scrutinizing him as though he’s trying to  _ read _ him. His classmate wouldn’t harm him, not here in his own home, but he still twitches when Hakuba cups his cheek with a hand, turning him back to face him and - 

And Hakuba kisses him.

Someone makes a tiny, surprised sound, and Kaito thinks it’s him. It’s nothing chaste, not like what Kaito had expected or imagined during the fleeting moments he had caught the other boy alone with a confessing girl. Instead, Hakuba kisses him as though he wants to steal the air from his lungs, tongue tracing the seam of his lips and pushing in when Kaito opens his mouth to protest. He’s insistent, even when Kaito grabs at his hips, fabric crumpling in his fists, but - he doesn’t push him away, not even when Hakuba’s other hand moves to tilt his head up to deepen it. Kaito shivers when Hakuba’s tongue traces over the roof of his mouth, Hakuba making a quiet, desperate sound in his throat, and it isn’t until Kaito whimpers (half in fright, half in need) that Hakuba shoves back from him, cold air rushing back into the too large space in between them, Kaito’s mind still reeling. Hakuba’s eyes are wide, mouth a cherry red, and Kaito doesn’t think he’s any better off, his own face feeling like it’s about to burn off as he gingerly touches fingertips to his own lips. 

“I didn’t know you could,” Kaito swallows, voice slightly hoarse. “Kiss. Like that.”

There’s a deer in the headlights sort of expression on Hakuba’s face, and when Kaito moves to sit up, he starts backwards violently, stammering something that sounded like “Excuse me - “ before honest to god fleeing the room, leaving Kaito to stare after him in consternation. Excuse him? Excuse  _ him _ ? Kaito spends a long minute lying on his back, staring up at the ceiling and calming his thoughts before picking himself up off the floor, dusting himself off and setting off in search of wherever Hakuba had tried to hide in his house.

He finds Hakuba again in a corner of his living room, twitchy and guilt-ridden, the hem of his shirt now slightly wrinkled from how he’s worrying it, although he stops the moment Kaito steps into his line of sight. Pausing at the doorway, Kaito puts a hand on the door frame, wondering about what he should say and says nothing at all. A beat of silence in which the ticking of the clock is loud between them, then Hakuba shifts, a loud rustling of fabric, shoulders hunching.

“I should go home,” Hakuba says. “I’m sorry.”

I’m sorry, he says. It isn’t as though Kaito can keep him here against his will, to needle the answer out of him when he doesn’t need one.

The house is quiet when the door clicks gently shut behind Hakuba.

::

A week passes by, and then two. Hakuba doesn’t bring it up, doesn’t offer up an explanation for his behaviour, his absence conspicuous at KID’s heists. After the second week Kaito sweeps it under the rug along with everything else that he doesn’t want to examine too closely personally. In school, everything is as it is, but Kaito pointedly makes himself unavailable whenever it looks like Hakuba’s headed in his direction, an unofficial game of cat and mouse until the school bell rings for the end of day.

Being a sore loser, Kaito wins every single round, out of the classroom before Hakuba can even get up from his seat, even if he doesn’t know why he’s playing it in the first place.

(It’s normal for teenage boys to get hormonal, isn’t it? His mum tries to pry, Jii seems disapproving, and no one on the online forums is of any help. He thinks, frets, and still wakes up dreaming of blonde hair, feathers, and hot sun. His father, ever the non judgemental silent portrait, smiles, and smiles, and smiles.)

Kaito thinks he’s dealing with it fine, either way, for a teenage boy left to tend to his business on his own. Between keeping his civilian persona intact and KID’s unfinished business, there really isn’t time for romance, and Hakuba’s just imprinting because of misunderstandings. He does his homework, plans his heist, cackles over multiple drafts of heist notes and goes grocery shopping on a boring Tuesday when there’s an enraged shout of “THIEF!” and a man barrels rudely past him.

Kaito stumbles, and nearly falls over when yet someone else pushes past, hot on the heels of the escaping thief. It’s impossible not to recognise that head of tea blond hair, and Kaito shouts when something glints in the snatch thief’s hand, the man turning back to face Hakuba, brandishing the same knife he used to cut the strap of the purse off the woman he’d just stolen from.

Hakuba, instead of slowing down, only runs straight at the man, neatly side-stepping his lunge and grabbing onto his arm before throwing the heavyset man over his shoulder, kicking the knife out of the thief’s hand when he’s winded on the ground and pinning him down. The crowd murmurs uneasily, Hakuba clearly giving orders to a passerby who has a phone and both hands free to contact the police. The man curses and spits, the curious crowd carefully giving them a wide berth, and after gathering his scattered and by now bruised peaches, Kaito joins them on the fringe.

Hakuba doesn’t miss him.

“Kuroba.” Genuine surprise, then the all familiar guilt filters back in. “I - “

Kaito cocks an eyebrow at him, and tilts his head. It’s not very professional, nor is it very sincere of Hakuba to bring things up when they have a crowd around them and Hakuba’s sitting on top of a criminal. 

“Good job,” Kaito offers. “Detective.”

“Kuroba.” Hakuba returns.  _ Thief _ , he doesn’t say, but Kaito hears it anyway. “Don’t mock me.”

“For doing your job?” Too many curious eyes around, and he’s uncomfortable saying too much with his own face, under his own name. “I would never.”

Beneath Hakuba, the thief says something particularly insulting, and Kuroba treads on his little finger, the man yowling. 

“Do you have a moment?” Hakuba blurts, the boy not daring to look at him. As he should, seeing as he’s the one who left like an ass without any explanation whatsoever. Kaito had thought that he’d be satisfied just giving Hakuba the cold shoulder, but the vicious twist of vindication in his chest now tells him otherwise. “Just a moment of your time, Kuroba. Please?”

Kaito stares down at him. “I have to cook dinner.”

“I’ll buy you dinner. Please.” Desperate, then, to get back into his good graces. Kaito hadn’t known that having so much power over someone could be this heady, and he doesn’t want it. “I mean, you’ll have to wait a bit, because - “

“I’ll wait.”

::

He loiters about at the magazine section of a nearby FamilyMart while Hakuba gets everything sorted out. It doesn’t take as long as Kaito would have liked for it to, and then Hakuba’s there, sheepish and apologetic and so damningly  _ hopeful _ . Kaito wonders if he has to tattoo their actual relationship onto him so that he’ll remember they’re ultimately detective and thief, and nothing close to resembling actual  _ friends _ . 

“Did you wait long?” Ever the (out of fashion) gentleman, Hakuba reaches for his groceries, and Kaito slaps his hand away. Stung, Hakuba puts the hand on his other elbow instead. “Sorry.”

“Stop saying that.” Kaito slots the magazine he had been browsing back onto the rack. “Just stop - apologising.”

“Sorry,” Hakuba mumbles, snapping the last thin thread of patience Kaito had been holding with him, with himself. The boy squeaks when Kaito grabs onto the front of his shirt, and uncaring of the fact that they’re both in public, of the treacherous waters of his own heart, he yanks Hakuba down and kisses him. Hard.

People stare, as they’re wont to do, and Hakuba is red as a tomato when Kaito finally lets him up. “You - “

“Now we’re even,” Kaito says shortly, Hakuba’s mouth opening and closing like a landed fish. “And you can stop feeling so sorry.”

“No, I don’t mean - Kaito!” Hakuba follows him doggedly out of the FamilyMart, grabbing onto a handful of his shirt. “Kaito! That’s not what I meant. Just -  _ bloody listen to me, won’t you?! _ ”

“And I suppose I’m the one who warrants you shouting at me in English, yes?” Kaito throws coldly over his shoulder. “Don’t call me Kaito.”

“You - “ A group of pigeons scatter near them, taking to the air with violent beats of their wings, Kaito flinching when they cut it a little too close to him, as though they were flying  _ at _ him. Hakuba only spares them a frustrated glare, and hauls Kaito a step back towards himself. “I’m buying you lunch, and we will talk.”

“Very aggressive, Detective,” Kaito lets slip before he realises it, smiling a mockery of a grin. “Is this how you ask people out on a date?”

“You’re the first,” Hakuba snaps. “Now will you or will you not give me the time of day?”

“I’m talking to you now, aren’t I?” Kaito wrestles himself free of Hakuba’s grip when the other boy catches onto his wrist, the grip so tight he thought he felt his bones grind. “What more do you want? You harass me in school, you harass me on my off days, you harass me in my own home. What more do you want from me?”

“I - “ Hakuba’s hands fall back limply to his sides, and he looks devastated. “That was never my intention. Initially, and shamefully, I admit. But now, after all you’ve done for me… “ He visibly wilts before Kaito, a watered down shadow of the person Kaito knows Hakuba is, all of his insecurities brought back to the surface because of Kaito’s own selfishness. “How could I betray all of that?”

“That could have been my intention. To get close to you. To use your weaknesses against you, because you’re too honest for your own good. Too trusting.”  _ Too much of everything that makes you vulnerable _ . Kaito isn’t even pretending that they aren’t talking about about KID and Hakuba-the-detective anymore. “If you’ve ever stopped to think about it - “

“Perhaps I would have, if this was before I knew you. But I know you.” The intensity with which Hakuba is staring at him is frightening, and Kaito twitches away before the movement registers. “You wouldn’t.”

“You’re very sure of yourself,” Kaito begins uncertainly, then stops. Hakuba’s got him, and the detective knows it. He  _ could _ play it off, use Hakuba’s own damnably kind heart against him, hurt him until he won’t think of ever breathing in his direction again, but Hakuba’s right. He won’t, and he never will. Hana-chan’s the living example of that.

“Let’s get lunch,” Hakuba suggests gently, and just like that, the tension between them dissolves down to just a trace. “I’ll pay.”

“Rich boy,” Kaito taunts, but it’s half-hearted at best. 

::

They end up in a small, family owned restaurant, awkwardly squeezing into a booth, Kaito avoiding Hakuba’s gaze after placing their order with the owner’s daughter. By then, Kaito has cooled down enough to realise that he’s been as much of a jerk as Hakuba had been to him - or worse, since Hakuba’s problem is that he’s just socially awkward, and Kaito’s own assholery had been fully intended to wound. 

Across him, Hakuba stares at him shamelessly without once looking away.

“You look,” Hakuba begins quietly. “Stressed.”

The understatement has Kaito huffing in laughter, the sound of it lacking humor. “You think?”

“Despite my best intentions,” Hakuba says, and stops, grimacing. “If we could start over… “

It’s an easy picture to imagine. He would approach Hakuba, at the park, and they would introduce themselves, in turn, talk about birds and harmless common topics, and maybe it would have been a gentler introduction to each other than when they had met each other at his heist. Then, maybe, he would know Hakuba as the awkward bird boy that he is rather than Hakuba, high school detective, Superintendent's son. Spending time with him is easier than Kaito would care to admit, but would it actually change anything? Would Hakuba stop pursuing him because of it? Would Kaito, in that universe where he had met Hakuba officially in the park, not be KID?

“It isn’t like you to talk about the impossible,” Kaito says, to which Hakuba sighs. 

“I’m never myself when faced with you,” Hakuba confesses to Kaito’s horror. “You defy all logic and rational thought. Can you truly blame me?”

Can Kaito blame him? Kaito stares back at Hakuba with wide eyes, hands clenched into fists so tightly his fingernails dig painfully into the flesh of his palm. It’s unfair, it’s so  _ fucking  _ unfair that Kaito finds his own voice choking him. Hakuba, the bastard, only regards him calmly.

It’s supposed to be romantic, isn’t it? Having someone bare their soul to you.

Kaito’s only angry.

(He’s projecting, he knows.)

“Have I offended you?” Hakuba murmurs when the silence has gone on for long enough, the beginnings of a self-deprecating smile curling at the corners of his lips. “I’m - I’ll try to do better.”

“You don’t have to.” The words are out before Kaito even registers what he’s trying to say. “You don’t have to do anything just because someone says you have to. You were so confident, on screen. What happened to it?”

There’s a heavy moment when Hakuba only looks at him gravely, and Kaito only dares to breathe again when he looks away. 

“Merely stating facts with the support of concrete evidence is vastly different from navigating interpersonal relationships and understanding people. There is much more at risk, and with you, I worry of worsening things.”

Kaito lounges backwards in his seat. “Don’t worry, then, seeing as the damage is already done - “

“I’m don’t want to lose you,” Hakuba cuts in firmly, and whatever remark Kaito had wanted to feed him meets a swift and sudden death on his lips.

“I do hope you know that I’m not something that you can keep, Tan- Hakuba,” Kaito says slowly, warily.

“I know. If it were up to me, I’d keep you away from making the decisions that you undoubtedly had to make on your own.” Hakuba sighs again, a long quiet exhale through his nose, and he looks tired. “But enough about me. What about you?”

“What about me?”

“Your allergy to commitment,” Hakuba says, and his gaze pins Kaito down to his seat.

The tense moment is broken by their waitress returning with their food, and Kaito takes the brief respite to piece himself back together once more. By the time she leaves with an empty tray, Kaito finds himself much less hungry and more in control of himself. 

“We can’t be friends, Hakuba. Despite what you’re thinking - we can’t.”

“Well. In spite of all that, I still think that I’m in love with you.” Hakuba breaks the disposable chopsticks apart, the wood snapping cleanly in his hands. “In the past two weeks, I find myself wishing that I had handled that better than I did, instead of fleeing and fumbling it up like an idiot. That was… vulnerability does not sit well with me.”

“It can’t have been your first time,” Kaito half teases, only for Hakuba to turn pink, prompting him to lean forwards in incredulity. “No way.”

“I’m something of an overachiever,” Hakuba coughs. “As we all know. And I’m only a teenager. I never had the relevant experience, so to speak.”

“Oh.” Kaito blinks, then slowly sits back. “In exchange for that bit of information then, I’ll have you know that was my first kiss.”

“Oh.” Hakuba’s eyes widen just the slightest bit. “Should I… not have?”

“Idiot. What’s done is done already. Besides, I don’t really care.” Kaito pulls his bowl of tendon towards him. “It’s just a kiss.”

Hakuba says nothing to that, and they quietly give thanks for their food before it could get cold. 

“I knew, before you told me,” Kaito admits between bites. “Perhaps I should not have encouraged it.”

“As much as you like to feign apathy, you have a very important part in my life,” Hakuba says finally when the bowls between them are empty. “Not just mine, but in many other people’s too. And I just want you to know that you’re not as bad a person as you try to make yourself to be. Even if I disagree with your actions - you’re not a bad person at all.”

Stunned into momentary silence, Hakuba’s nonchalant words cutting deep, Kaito can only stare back at him. His classmate-slash-adversary-slash-friend smiles encouragingly at him, and pulls back his sleeve to take a look at the time.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to get going,” Hakuba says. “I need to get back in time to feed Hana-chan.”

Kaito sits unmoving for a long moment while Hakuba takes care of the bill, before pushing back his chair to catch up to him. “Can I come with?”

He reads his answer in the apologetic smile Hakuba gives him, and is just reaching for an excuse when Hakuba touches him gently on the arm. 

“Maybe next time,” he says.

Not a no. Maybe.

Kaito’s worked with worse.

::

“ - and so that’s how I figured out he was the monster everyone in school kept talking about. His  _ rats _ , honestly, you should have seen the poor things!”

“Really,” Jii’s voice crackles in his earpiece. “I wouldn’t have imagined.”

“Who would have?” Kaito carefully tugs experimentally on the hook, making sure that it will be able to take his weight. “What is it Hakuba always said?  _ Life is stranger than fiction _ .”

“You would have to translate that into Japanese for me, I’m afraid.” Jii chuckles. “You seem to be a lot more talkative these days, bocchama.”

“Eh?” As far as he is concerned, Kaito has always been talking Jii’s ear off about something or the other. “Really?”

“About things other than your  _ work _ , I mean,” Jii says, and Kaito flushes. “I’m really glad that you are willing to speak with me in regards to your own life, and that from the sound of it, you’re happy.”

There’s a suspicious sounding sniff, and Kaito flushes pink. “Of - of course I’m glad to speak with you about it. I just thought - you wouldn’t be interested in it.”

“Of course I would be. You’re always only telling me about work, or Aoko, or something about Toichi-sama. I had been so worried.”

“You needn’t have. I can take of myself.”

“I don’t doubt that,” Jii sighs. “But I do see you as my own grandson, and… “

“I just thought that it wasn’t worth mentioning,” Kaito mutters, feeling rather warm all of a sudden. “And… you do?”

“Of course. Unless you prefer that I don’t.” He can hear Jii’s smile in his voice. “It’s a little presumptuous of me, I understand.”

“No! Not at all!” Kaito nearly fumbles the lock. “Please. I’ll be honoured. Even if I doubt I’ll make much good of being a grandson.”

“I don’t think there’s any standard criteria for being one,” Jii laughs. “You’re so independent that it’s worrying.”

“Gee, I sure can’t tell if that’s a complaint or a compliment,” Kaito grumbles lowly, carefully releasing his tether so he swings back down to the ground. “Oomph. All set here.”

“All set here as well, bocchama.”

“You know, if you’re going to make me your grandson, you shouldn’t call me bocchama anymore,” Kaito teases, putting his equipment away back into his backpack. “Call me Kaito.”

“Let an old man keep his habits.”

“Say, I’m thinking of trying for an apprenticeship beginning next Summer. I think I’ve spent enough time honing my own skills by myself. I want to learn how to work with a larger audience.”

“Your heists, bocchama?” Jii coughs, and Kaito wrinkles his nose at the poorly concealed laugh.

“Those people are there to see me  _ steal _ . I doubt they’re there simply for my magic, alone. I’m not sure how I would stand up to the test, when there are critics out to tear down my act and people who are determined not to enjoy themselves. Right now, they see me as a thief who happens to utilize magic in his escapes, not as a magician. There’s a difference, isn’t there? And - oh, does that make me an escape artist?”

“I have the utmost confidence in you,” Jii says warmly. 

“Or,” Kaito slings his backpack over his shoulder, checks all of his set-ups for one last time before making his exit through the fire escape. “I’ve considered working as a stuntman, with all the stuff I’ve been pulling. It’ll be thrilling, at least.”

“If you want to. You know that you’ll always have our support, don’t you?” Jii hums. “Including your mother.”

“Aren’t you glad that I don’t aspire to be a murderer,” Kaito grins, cackling when Jii chokes. “There’s someone like that running around Japan, isn’t there? I heard of him when I went sniffing around for inspiration. Takato Youichi, isn’t it?”

“You went sniffing around him?” Jii yelps. “Bocchama! That man is - “

“Dangerous, yeah. But it’s hard to gain his interest, so don’t worry.” Kaito waves a hand casually, brushing off Jii’s worry. “I was only surprised how spotless he is. That was three months ago, anyway. He didn’t come kill me in my sleep.”

“As long as you are certain that you are careful… “ 

“I’m always careful,” Kaito grumbles. “I’m never not careful.”

“Sure,” Jii says, and it sounds like he’s muttering something about the clock tower, which Kaito chooses to ignore. “So - about the friend who is keeping Hana-chan now… “

Oh  _ no _ .

“As your grandfather, I’m entitled to hear all about these friends of yours, aren’t I?”

Sometimes, he forgets that Jii really isn’t the kind, old softie he seems to be.

::

On any day, Kaito can easily admit that he’s closer to a cross between a realist and a pessimist than the optimist that most people like to mistake him for. Right now, as he’s falling down all forty storeys of the skyscraper with his heist target in a pocket and a brand new hole in his side, he doubts that even the best optimist can find the silver lining in his particular situation.

The heist had gone off perfectly without a hitch, but apparently actively thinking about it is considered tempting fate. Which brings him to his soon to be messy death on the concrete as Hakuba shouts overhead, still grappling with the man who had stabbed him when Kaito had landed on the nearby building for escape.

Glider: broken. Jii: Screaming mad in his ear. Heist target: Not Pandora.

He’s going to die at 17, and the only thing he regrets is never taking his mum up on her offer of hosting a magic show with him in Los Angeles.

(That’s a lie, it’s just much easier thinking that is the only thing he will miss.)

Movement, overhead, and then a figure leaps over the edge of the roof, and even through his pain and disorientation, he makes out the brown of Hakuba’s outfit, Hakuba’s face pale above his even as he follows Kaito and his mistakes down to inevitable death.

Kaito’s screaming before he’s even aware of what he’s doing. Pain thrums angrily in his side, acid hot, and he’s cold all over and terrified for a new reason now. 

He can’t have - Kaito can’t save himself, much less Hakuba -  _ why the fuck _ -

Just about five seconds before he makes his grisly impact with the ground, something collides into him hard from the side and he’s screaming all over again, thrashing against his binds until he realises that a) the binds is simply Hakuba holding on to him for dear life, b) they’re not falling downwards, and c) Hakuba has  _ wings _ .

“Stop bloody shouting,” Hakuba hisses at him, Hakuba’s sleek, powerful wings carrying the both of them upwards away from the ground with ease. Kaito does stop, but he isn’t sure if he’s already dead and his brain is simply hallucinating or, as they say, flashing through his entire life or something.

“You’re,” Kaito stutters, unable to take his eyes off of Hakuba’s new appendages. They match his dreams, feathers a handsome tawny brown, just a shade darker than Hakuba’s hair in evening lighting. “But.”

“Very eloquent,” Hakuba quips, despite the terror still tight around the corners of his eyes, his hands gripping onto his suit so hard Kaito’s nearly squirming with pain all over again. “Do you think you can retrieve my phone from my front pocket?”

Kaito tries, but only succeeds in pawing Hakuba on the chest, his hands shaking far too much for him to coordinate. The white of his suit is a sodden red by now, the colour rubbing off on Hakuba where he’s pressed up against him. Hakuba spares his wound a quick glance, and grimaces.

“Keep pressure on your wound,” he advises finally, brow furrowed. “Don’t fall asleep.”

“No promises,” Kaito returns, cheeky even while bleeding to his probable death in Hakuba’s arms. “The scenery is so nice from here.”

“It’ll be nicer if you’ll stop being a handful and not die,” Hakuba grouses. “Or - “

“Or you’ll turn my dead body in to the police?” Kaito forces his eyes open again when he realises they’ve closed somehow without his noticing. “Not an effective threat. They got me twice, Tantei-san.”

“I know,” Hakuba grinds out between clenched teeth. There’s a shift, and then they’re banking down towards the buildings. “I was four seconds too late.”

“Hey, don’t blame yourself. Take my earpiece - my assistant’s on the line.” The air is getting colder, and Kaito shivers, wincing as pain lances through him once more. “You did the best you could, as we all are. I’m just a thief, anyway. There’s lots more out there where I came from.”

“ _ Never _ talk about yourself like that.” The barely suppressed anger in Hakuba’s voice wakes him a little, and Kaito smiles a little to himself. “There isn’t, and I’ve only got you.”

“Sounds a little like dependency issues,” Kaito replies, a little breathless. “Hey, Hakuba?”

“This had better not be something stupid.”

The smile on Kaito’s lips widens, the heartbeat he hears where he’s resting his head against Hakuba’s chest steady and loud and reassuring. “I love you.”

“I don’t accept confessions in situations such as this,” Hakuba grits out. “You’ll have to try again with your own damn face when you’re not bleeding yourself into an early grave.”

“I can already tell that you will be high maintenance,” Kaito mumbles, grunting when there is another abrupt shift, Hakuba’s grip tightening on him. “That makes sense.”

“KID? Don’t fall asleep. Hey, KID. Kuroba. Kaito!” There’s more jostling, more pain, although in a more distanced, numbed form, and while Kaito hates to leave his mess right in Hakuba’s lap, he doesn’t think he has much of a choice. Pain flares briefly across his cheek, and he mumbles in cooperation. “Stay with me, Kaito.”

He falls asleep. Points for trying, anyway.

::

When he wakes, he wakes to a confusion of doctors, beeping machines, and a whole lot of boredom in between when he’s left on his own to recuperate in the hospital room. His attending doctor tells him that it’s lucky he was admitted in time, and Kaito’s gentle probing with the interns and the nurses turn up pretty much nothing. Moving hurts, and so he spends his time watching the scenery outside of his window, waiting.

On the third day, he discovers a burner phone in the drawer of his bedside cabinet that hadn’t been there before. 

_ Bored. - 14.07.18 _

_ You better have an explanation ready when you get here. - 14.07.19 _

_ You’re not leaving me here, are you? -14.07.23 _

“When you’re better, you can walk out on your own two legs, can’t you?” Hakuba says when he shows up in the middle of the second week, a bouquet of flowers tucked under one arm and a paper bag in the other. “How have you been?”

“Very bored.” Kaito sits up, shoving the small mountain of pillows behind him so he can lie on them better. “Very annoyed. What happened?”

“Unfortunately, we did not manage to get your mugger. I had you taken here because this hospital was the closest. You should know better than to walk around those areas late at night, Kuroba. Being careless isn’t you.”

“Really.” Kaito frowns. “ _ I _ was walking around a secluded area at night and got  _ mugged _ ?”

“Last I heard he stabbed you in the stomach, not your head. Do you not remember?” There’s nothing but genuine surprise on Hakuba’s face, but Kaito is also aware that he is a good actor when he needs to be, and scowls at him when he pulls up a chair next to his bed. “It’s a good thing I was nearby.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my head. You clearly know that - “

“And I got you something,” Hakuba continues brightly, in a loud enough voice that he drowns out Kaito’s own. “Sorry about the packaging, though.”

He sets a lunch box on the bed, and to Kaito’s horror, opens it up to reveal a rumpled and furious Hana-chan inside. “This  _ again _ \- “

“It was the only way I could smuggle her in - ow!” Hakuba pulls his hand back immediately when Hana-chan pecks at him. “It was for the duration of time I took walking from the visitor’s desk up to your room! Smuggling her in wasn’t easy.”

“And I’m sure a rattling lunch box is less conspicuous?” Hana-chan chirps and flaps her wings irritably, but calms down enough for Kaito to pick her up, Kaito clicking his tongue and stroking along her back with a finger to soothe her ire. “Oh, you poor girl. I’m so sorry he did that to you.”

“I got a bigger lunch box for her,” Hakuba says, clearly pretending not to see the glare that Kaito gives him. “I thought having her here would cheer you up, being KID’s bird and all… you like birds, don’t you?”

“I like animals,” Kaito corrects him, offering his cupped hand to Hana-chan and smiling as she immediately rubs her head against his palm. Taking a deep breath and careful not to allow any tension to show on the outside, he goes on. “You have to take better care of my assistants, Hakuba. Particularly when I’ve left them in your care.”

Hakuba’s head snaps up, finally looking Kaito straight in the eyes for the first time since stepping into his hospital room, mouth open. “You don’t mean that,” he says at length.

“Oh, I do.” In his hands, Hana-chan begins to coo, a soothing presence that gave him the strength to say what he had to. “She didn’t belong to me, originally. I inherited her, and now that she’s gotten along in her age, I’m giving her to you.”

There’s a long, stunned silence in the room, broken when Hakuba leans forward to take one of Kaito’s hands into his own. “I’ll be honoured.”

“Yeah.” Kaito releases the breath he hadn’t known that he’d been holding, giving Hakuba’s hand a light squeeze. “She’s one of the family’s greatest assistants. You had better be honoured.”

They watch Hana-chan strut around over Kaito’s bed, the silence natural and comfortable, filling in for them the words that they aren’t able to say. 

“Why don’t you ask?” Hakuba asks, when Hana-chan has fallen asleep with her head against Kaito’s hand, and he’s having fun moving his hand away just for her to follow after to sleep again.

“Ask? About - oh.” Kaito pauses his teasing while Hakuba tries his best not to squirm on his chair, shoulders lifting, then relaxing again. “That’s not the first time I saw you with them.”

“Not the first time? I don’t understand.” Hakuba looks uneasy, and just like that, feathers flutter without his noticing to the previously clean floor. “I’ve never - not that I know of.”

“It’s just the clues that I’ve picked up on over time spent with you. Your affinity with birds, the way you hold yourself, your feathers, Baaya lecturing you about grooming when you all thought I was asleep… “ Kaito ticks them off on his fingers, Hakuba turning pink when he finally notices that he’s shedding again. “You don’t do that often, do you? Grooming?”

“On occasion, when I remember it, I do.  Aren’t you the least bit curious? About how, or why I have them?” Hakuba presses, insistent. “Normal humans don’t have  _ wings _ .”

“I think those are the tamest things I’ve known about this world thus far,” Kaito admits laughingly. “And besides, they’re yours. They’re your secret. I’m not going to pry.”

“Oh.” Hakuba looks a little like a lost child, hesitant and just a little hopeful that maybe someone would come along and take him by the hand. Kaito does just that, Hakuba’s eyes flicking down to their hands and back up.

“Thank you for saving me back there, Tantei-san. I still stand by what I said - that I love you.” Kaito licks his lips nervously, and soldiers on. “I don’t think that I can date you right now. We never got off on a good start, so… “

“Friends?” Hakuba supplies for him. 

“What do you think?” Kaito relaxes his grip on Hakuba’s hand a little, realising now he had been holding it in something of a death grip.

“I think it’s a good start,” Hakuba breathes out, and Kaito grins. “The timing still is a bit shite, though.”

“Yeah? Please take good care of me, Hakuba.”

Hakuba blinks, and when he smiles, it’s like the dawning sun. “Likewise, Kuroba.”

**Author's Note:**

> shakes out hands vigorously


End file.
